The State Dept.'s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) manages U.S. embassy construction around the world. Last year, OBO launched a Design Excellence initiative, modeled after the General Services Administration's long-established program. Over the past year, State Dept. working groups have studied OBO's programs and policies and came up with more than 60 recommendations for changes in how it does business. ENR's Washington bureau chief, Tom Ichniowski, spoke with OBO's acting director, Adam Namm, and its deputy director, Lydia Muniz, in late April during a meeting of the bureau's Industry Advisory Panel, and followed up with Muniz on May 4,
As the Dept. of Transportation works with congressional committees to draw up a new multiyear transportation bill, DOT officials are dismissing a legislative text obtained by a Washington newsletter as “an early working draft that was never formally circulated within the administration.” The 498-page document, obtained by Transportation Weekly, tracks the $555.9-billion, six-year highway-transit-rail proposal that DOT outlined in February. The draft includes some new items, such as multiple, but vague, references to a “new energy tax.” In a statement, DOT spokesman Justin Nisly said, “This is not an administration proposal ... and does not represent the views of the
The National Labor Relations Board's acting general counsel has filed a complaint in federal court against Arizona for passing a measure that says workers can only use secret-ballot elections to determine whether they want to unionize. Organized labor prefers employees have the option of signing authorization cards to show support for unionizing. In a complaint filed on May 6 in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, NLRB's Lafe Solomon said a 2010 Arizona constitutional amendment conflicts with federal labor law. Three other states have adopted similar measures. Solomon says he plans to file a complaint in South Dakota and may take
More than two-thirds of the states lack adequate ways to measure whether their transportation spending achieves economic, mobility, environmental, infrastructure quality and other goals, says a new report from two policy research groups. The study, released on May 10 by the Pew Center on the States and the Rockefeller Foundation, found that only 13 states have goals, performance measurements and data to help their transportation officials set spending priorities effectively. It adds that 19 states fall short in those areas and 18 states and the District of Columbia show mixed results. With federal and state transportation spending under pressure, quantifying
More than two-thirds of the states lack adequate ways to measure whether their transportation spending is successful, says a new report from two policy research groups. ENR file photo Pass or fail? States can't tell if transportation work achieves goals, report says. Related Links: View executive summary of Pew-Rockefeller report The states can't tell if the spending achieves economic, mobility, environmental, infrastructure quality and other goals, says the report. The assessment is part of a study released on May 10 by the Pew Center on the States and the Rockefeller Foundation. It found that only 13 states have sufficient goals,
Rail projects on the Northeast Corridor were the major winners as the U.S. Dept. of Transportation redistributed $2 billion in aid Florida turned down earlier this year. The grants, announced on May 9, will fund about $1.7 billion in infrastructure. That will be good news for engineering and construction firms and ease the pain of Florida Gov. Rick Scott's move to cancel his state's rail plan. The Northeast got about $1 billion, mostly for the Washington-to-Boston corridor. Peter Gertler, chairman of transit and high-speed rail services for HNTB, says about 75% of previous DOT rail awards went to California, Florida
The Internal Revenue Service has given design and construction firms aone-year reprieve from a contract-payment withholding requirement thatindustry contends would deal them a financial blow.At issue is a provision of a 2006 statute that requires federal, state andlocal governments to withhold an amount equal to 3% of their payments toanyone providing them with goods or services.The mandate applies to agencies whose total annual spending on goods andservices is $100 million or more.Individual payments of less than $10,000 would be exempt from thewithholding requirement.The mandate originally was to take effect for payments starting Jan. 1,2011. But the 2009 economic stimulus law
New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority Work has already begun on improvements to Harold Interlocking in New York City's borough of Queens. Related Links: View DOT's announcement View NY Gov. Cuomo's press release Rail projects on the Northeast Corridor are the major winners as the U.S. Dept. of Transportation redistributed $2 billion in high-speed rail aid that Florida rejected earlier this year. The grant awards, announced by US DOT Secretary Ray LaHood on May 9, will include about $1.7 billion for infrastructure work. That will be a welcome infusion to engineering firms and construction contractors around the country, and ease
Construction's jobless rate improved in April, declining to 17.8% from March's 20%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. Last month's figure also was markedly better than the industry's April 2010 level of 21.8%, but construction's rate remained the worst among major U.S. industries.BLS's latest monthly employment update, released on May 6, shows that construction gained 5,000 jobs in April, according to preliminary numbers. But the bureau also observed that total construction employment "has shown little net movement since early 2010, after having fallen sharply during the prior three years."Looking at construction segments, heavy and civil construction recorded an increase of 12,700
The U.S. Dept. of Transportation has sent New Jersey a second and final notice, directing the state to repay $271.1 million in federal funds disbursed for a $9.1-billion rail-tunnel project that Gov. Chris Christie (R) canceled last October. The Access to the Region's Core was to be a nine-mile commuter rail link under the Hudson River, from Secaucus, N.J., to midtown Manhattan. DOT's Federal Transit Administration in November issued its first formal demand that the state repay the money. New Jersey reviewed the amount of the repayment claim and examined FTA project records. In a final decision issued on April
